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UN Rio+20 Agenda Galvanizes to Sustainable Cities

As Rio+20 takes shape (officially, the United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development,follow-up to the historic UN 1992 “Earth Summit,”held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil),the issue of sustainable cities appears to be
taking center stage in planning for the June 2012 event dedicated to marshalling the global Green Economy.

“Cities provide a great framework to galvanize public
opinion and citizen participation,” said Jared Blumenfeld, Administrator of
Region 9 of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). “Cities also have a
lot in common: New York and Beijing have more in common in terms of challenges
they face than do the US and China.”

On the road to Rio, the UN’s “Shanghai Manual for Sustainable Cities”will be released by the UN Department of
Economic and Social Affairs on Nov. 7 as a playbook for mayors of global cities
so they can deploy triple bottom line strategies (I co-authored the manual with
the UN). Blumenfeld, who spoke last week at the Commonwealth Club in San
Francisco, said that the US Department of State and EPA are preparing by next week a Rio+20 submittal that is “cities focused.” (Previously, the United States and Brazil
recently announced the US-Brazil Joint Venture on Urban Sustainability.) Meanwhile, non-governmental organization Ecocity Builders has begun high-level discussions with the UN
and NGOs ICLEI and C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group,
on potential Rio+20 standards for ecocities including the International Ecocity
Framework and Standards (IEFS).

Out of the 1992 Earth Summit,with 110 heads of state and thousands of
non-governmental leaders, emerged pivotal treaties and frameworks for decades to
come, including the Kyoto Protocol
and Agenda 21.
Other products of the first Earth Summit include the Global Environmental
Facility at the World Bank,
and national sustainability agendas in 86 countries based off Agenda 21,
according to Jacob Scherr, director of global strategy and advocacy for the
Natural Resources Defense Council.

Scherr, who also spoke with the EPA’s Blumenfeld, cited UN
Secretary General Ban Ki-
moon’s declaration that, “We are running out of time,” in reference to global
environmental species and habitat destruction, combined with human-caused
climate change. Scherr pointed out that in 1950 there were only 50,000 cars on
earth–soon there will be 1 billion.Illustrating the trend toward species extinction and habitat loss, he
noted that one-third fewer animals inhabit the planet than there were only 40
years ago.

Blumenfeld, the former director of San Francisco’s Department of Environment, said that the most effective
strategies for Rio+20 may rest upon enabling local actions such as
significantly increased city recycling goals (including zero waste) and banning
plastic bags. “In ten days you can get the word out in cities and you can make
a difference,” he said, “which is very different than getting people to focus
on international agreements.”

Scherr implored those in their twenties or younger to take an
interest in the UN Rio+20 proceedings and participate in whatever way possible,
since it will be so vital to shaping a planet’s future that will be decidedly urban (75% by 2050): “It shouldn’t be
called Rio+20. It should be called Rio for Twenty Somethings.”

Warren Karlenzig is president of Common Current. He is
a fellow at the Post-Carbon Institute, and co-author ofthe
forthcoming United Nations Shanghai Manual on global sustainable city planning
and management.